How does electricity in magnets work?
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Answer

It's not actually electricity, it is the attraction of iron and steel particles in a magnet.

Answer (technical, but translated from geek speak to English)

We usually don't consider the "standard" magnet in terms of electricity. But there is a point, although it may be an oblique one. Here's the point. There is no such thing as magnetism without some kind of charged particle movement. And the movement of charged particles is the most basic definition of electricity. Let's break it down.

One of the four basic forces in the universe is the electromagnetic force. Not the electric force, and not the magnetic force. The electromagnetic force. Any charged particle, when it is in motion, creates a magnetic field around its path of travel. Kinda like a little magnetic tunnel. And the polarity of the magnetic field will be opposite for positive and negative charges. We can set aside positive charges here, okay? Electrons in motion (which can loosely be called electricity) generate a circular magnetic field around their path of travel, and when two of them are moving in the same direction simultaneously and in proximity, they fields are additive. Move a bunch of electrons in the same direction at the same time and a "big" magnetic field results when the vectors are summed. Now to the magnet.

Focus on electrons orbiting the atoms of the metal in the magnetic. The bottom line in a permanent magnetic is that "enough" electrons in the orbits of "enough" atoms are moving in the same direction at the same time to cause the vector sum of all their bazillion motions to result in an overall magnetic field about the object. Once more. Electrons flying around the nuclei of atoms, though they usually are all "randomized" and result in a zero net magnetic field around the object as a whole, are moving in a uniform way in a large enough portion of the atoms that the additive effect of the uniform motion results in a standing magnetic field about the object. Each atom or small grouping of atoms sets up what is called a magnetic domain. Lots of domains (situated so their fields are aligned) = lots of magnetic effect. Presto! We have a magnet.

So how does the electricity in a magnet work? Just like we talked about right there.

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First answer by ID2857112829. Last edit by Quirkyquantummechanic. Contributor trust: 465 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 26 [recommend question]

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